Davidson Institute
for Talent Development
BOB AND JAN DAVIDSONFounders Authors of Genius Denied:
How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds

In
1999, philanthropists Bob and Jan Davidson founded the Davidson Institute
for Talent Development, a nonprofit operating foundation whose mission is
to recognize, nurture and support profoundly intelligent young people and
to provide opportunities for them to develop their talents to make a
positive difference.

Jan
Davidsonís career in education began at 13 years old when she started a
tutoring service for her fellow students. In the
late 1970s, Jan asked herself why computers were not being used to teach
students at an individualized pace and she realized the potential of using
computers as learning tools. In 1982, she founded Davidson &
Associates, the educational software company that published award-winning
products such as Math Blasterô and Reading
Blasterô.

In
1989, Jan persuaded her husband, Bob, to leave his job as executive vice
president of engineering and construction at the worldwide Parsons Corporation, and
become chairman and CEO of Davidson & Associates. During the next few
years, Davidson & Associates formed partnerships with Fisher-Price and
Simon & Schuster, and made several strategic acquisitions including
Blizzard Entertainment, a small entertainment software developer, whose
products Warcraftô, Starcraftô
and Diabloô became runaway best
sellers. Under Bobís
leadership, Davidson & Associates became a publicly-traded,
multi-million dollar company.

After
selling Davidson & Associates in 1997, Bob and Jan decided to focus on
philanthropic endeavors to help young people become successful learners.
While researching ways to make a positive impact, they discovered that our
nationís brightest students are arguably the most underserved and
neglected in Americaís educational system. In 1999, a pilot group of 15
Young Scholars was established followed by the Davidson
Institute for Talent Development (www.davidsongfted.org)
being created in 2000 along with the official launch of the Davidson Young
Scholars program.

In
2004, Simon & Schuster published the Davidsonsí award-winning book, Genius
Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds(www.geniusdenied.com).
In 2005, they worked to pass Nevada state legislation to open a new kind of
public school for profoundly gifted middle and high school students on the
University of Nevada, Reno campus, called the Davidson Academy of Nevada (www.davidsonacademy.unr.edu).

Janearned
a doctorate in American studies and a masterís in communications from the
University of Maryland, and earned her undergraduate degree at Purdue
University.She has also
received honorary doctorates from Pepperdine University and Purdue
University. Jan
has served on the advisory boards of the National Association for Gifted
Children and the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent
Development.

Bob
earned
his juris doctorate degree from George Washington University, a masterís
in business administration from the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) and a bachelorís of science in chemical engineering from Purdue
University. He
also served as a director for both Pepperdine University and George Washington
University. Bob currently serves on the advisory board of the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. In 2015, Bob was appointed to the Nevada System of Higher Educationís Board of Regents.